It was a great honour for Norway to host the 6th World Congress Against the Death Penalty. From 21st to 23rd June 2016, the World Congress gathered together nearly 1,500 people from civil society, academia, governments, media, parliaments and human rights institutions, including Nobel Prize winners and some very brave witnesses who were there to share their stories.
The Congress was an inspiring and challenging event. Participants crossed political and regional divides, shared knowledge, strategies and personal experiences, and deepened networks and professional partnerships.
I am confident that it has contributed to positive changes in policies and practices.
The heart of diplomacy is dialogue. I strongly believe that the most effective way of reducing the number of States that make active use of the death penalty is to bring people together and encourage debate based on respect, supported by facts, and free of judgement and prejudice. The World Congress is an arena where retentionist and abolitionist States can meet in an open dialogue and work together towards global abolition.
The 6th World Congress was organised by civil society organisations in partnership with the Norwegian Government and the Core Group of countries working towards abolition of the death penalty.
A strong and pluralistic civil society can be a driving force in efforts to promote democratic development, the rule of law and human rights. Both in Norway and in other countries, civil society plays an important role by evaluating and challenging the activities of the authorities. Civil society organisations can act as a catalyst for change and play a part as a watchdog by holding the authorities to account, and are also a key source of information.
The Norwegian Constitution now includes a provision stating that every person has a right to life and that nobody may be sentenced to death. The commitment to global abolition of the death penalty is deeply rooted in Norwegian society and public opinion. Norway opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle.
Research shows that capital punishment is not a more effective deterrent than long prison sentences. The use of the death penalty is a global problem, and not limited to particular regions, traditions, cultures or religions. Norway is working actively at national, regional and international level to achieve the long-term goal of global abolition. The United Nations is an important arena for combating the death penalty. Norway is a one of the Core Group countries involved in promoting the biennial UN General Assembly resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.
I welcome the fact that several of the countries that took part in the 6th World Congress made specific commitments to move forward on abolishing the death penalty.
The world has made a great deal of progress. Today, more than four out of five countries have either abolished the death penalty or no longer use capital punishment. This is encouraging.
However, we have also seen setbacks including processes aiming to reintroduce the death penalty in some countries. According to Amnesty International, there was a dramatic spike in the number of executions in 2015.
This demonstrates the importance of continuing to engage with stakeholders on the issue of the death penalty. We need to involve parliamentarians, the judiciary and law enforcement agencies, and promote workable alternatives to the use of death penalty. The Congress Declaration calls upon all of us to continue our joint efforts towards abolition.
The Norwegian Government is grateful to the conference organisers, Ensemble contre la peine de mort and the World Coalition against the Death Penalty, and to our fellow members of the Core Group of countries working against the death penalty. Your dedication and hard work made it a great pleasure for Norway to host the Congress. I am looking forward to continuing our partnerships.
I hope that when we reconvene at the 7th World Congress in three years’ time, the list of abolitionist countries will have increased even further. It is no longer a question of whether we will achieve full abolition, but of when.

Børge Brende
Norwegian Minister of Justice